


Bring Me Home

by ellacj



Series: 52 Weeks of Swan Queen [45]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dark One Emma, F/F, Not Canon Compliant, Season 5 AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-05-01 18:48:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5216732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellacj/pseuds/ellacj
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"When you love someone, all your saved up wishes start coming out."</p><p>-Elizabeth Bowen</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bring Me Home

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't been watching season 5. It's just too excruciating.

The silver zipper of the red jacket glints as it catches the morning sunlight from the window. Regina inhales deeply through her nose. She carries the jacket, among other things, down the stairs to the dark and secluded basement, closing the door behind her.

Using a flashlight, she lays the objects in a circle around the candle. She takes another deep breath. The next part is the hardest.

 _It’s for Emma_ , she tells herself. _This will save her._ And so, with trembling hands, she reaches into her jacket and slowly pulls out the dagger. “Dark One,” she says in a voice that sounds much stronger than she feels. “I summon thee.”

“You said you wouldn’t do that,” a cool voice says behind her. Emma stands there, sharp green eyes cutting through the dark of the basement and every one of Regina’s defenses. “I trusted you.” Her hand slowly rises, fire churning at her palm.

“No magic,” Regina snaps. “I’m doing this for _you_.”

Emma glances over to Regina’s arrangement. Her eyes go wide. “No,” she whispers. “Why are you all doing this? Can’t you learn to accept the darkness? This is who I am now.”

Regina ignores her. It’s easier that way. That way she can pretend Emma is still the way she used to be. She turns to face the circle of objects around the candle. Something she owned, something she lost, something she hated, something she loved. Regina spent weeks tracking down each item. That red leather jacket, Neal’s dreamcatcher, Cruella’s fur coat, and Henry’s storybook.

All she needs to do is light the candle.

As she’s raising her hand to do just that, the door to the basement opens and Henry runs down the stairs followed by the whole of the Charming softball team – and their irritating pirate mascot. “Mom?” Henry murmurs, eyes flickering from Emma to Regina and back.

“Henry, what are you doing down here?”

“I know you’re casting the spell to get Ma back.”

Regina sighs. She clutches the dagger even more tightly even as she lowers it to her side.

Snow furrows her brow. “Why didn’t you tell us? Why keep this a secret?”

“I just…” Regina casts a glance back toward Emma, still standing tall and proud in the darkness, then back toward Snow and David. “I wanted her to myself.”

“What?”

“Just one moment where you all weren’t clamoring over her and worrying about her. A few minutes where she was just… mine.”

Emma’s gaze softens ever so slightly as she takes in the meaning of the words. “Do you mean…?”

“Don’t make me say it in front of your parents.”

“No.” Hook shakes his head. “Say it, Regina. I think we all need to hear it.”

Regina narrows her eyes at the pirate. As though he hadn’t done enough to her already. “I love her,” she whispers. “I just hoped…”

Hook cuts her off with a chuckle. “Hoped what? That she’d fall into your arms? Say she loves you, too? I’m sorry to tell you, I’ve already filled that position.”

“Enough,” Emma snaps, taking a menacing step toward him. She turns to face the rest of the Charmings. “Go upstairs.”

“Emma-”

“Go upstairs,” she repeats slowly. “We’ll be there soon.”

After a moment, they turn toward the stairs and make their ascent, Henry closing the door behind them.

Emma faces Regina with a deep breath. She closes her eyes tightly as though fighting a battle in her head. “Do the spell.”

Regina’s eyes go wide. “Are you sure?”

“Do it. I won’t fight it.”

Before Emma changes her mind, Regina lights the candle with a snap of her fingers and murmurs the incantation. The room fills with a loud, whistling wind, entering every part of their bodies before focusing on Emma and swirling around her as though her own personal tornado.

When the wind dies down, Emma slowly opens her eyes. They’re not as sharp, not as cold as they were just a minute ago. Now they just look tired. She smiles at Regina. “The voices are gone. It worked.”

Before she can think about it, Regina steps forward to pull Emma into a tight embrace, burying her face in her shoulder to hide the tears slowly filling her eyes. “I missed you. The real you.”

“I missed you, too.” Emma pulls out of the embrace, but before the contact can be broken completely, she leans into a gentle kiss that makes Regina’s heart grow wings and simply flutter out of her chest. “And I love you, too,” Emma murmurs into the kiss.

Regina grins. “Perhaps we should go upstairs to your parents?”

“They can wait one more minute.” With that, Emma pulls Regina’s lips back to hers, and the rest is history.


End file.
